Singing and dancing
brought Royer Hall to life Jan. 25 as they
hosted a Karaoke contest on the University of
Arkansas - Monticello campus. Participants sang
in front of a panel of judges who acted like the
judges from American Idol – Simon Cowell,
Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson.

Photo by Brittany Pickett

Royer Judges - (Left to right) Michael
Reynolds, Karee Dowty and David Dowty
take on the roles as judges for the
Karaoke contest. They gave critiques of
all those that sang.

Students participated in
the Idol version of karaoke. Some sounded good
and some should not quit their day job. Okay, so
it sounds a little cliché, but in this case it
did seem true. Everyone who sang seemed to enjoy
what they did, regardless of their ability to
sing or critiques from the judges, which seemed
very humorous.

Just over 10 people sang
their hearts out that night. Only a few,
however, seemed to stick out the most. The first
group to take the mic belted out “Unfaithful” –
a sad attempt, but the judges seemed fair with
their remarks.

Judge Michael Reynolds
playing as Randy said, “Power to the black
people.”

Since rules prohibit the
use of lighters in the residence hall
dormitories, the crowd used their cell phones,
which they moved in the air as one of the
participants attempted to sing. The singer fell
short, singing “Blurry.” He appeared nervous but
knew the words to the song. He ended with a
wonderful air guitar performance to conclude his
time on stage.

Photo by Brittany Pickett

First Place -
Jennifer Cobb won first place at the
karaoke contest.

Introduced as ‘Mr.
Pimp,’ Eric Bell dressed up for his part. He
sang a jazzed-up version of ‘Twinkle, Twinkle
Little Star.”

“It’s the only one I
know,” he said. If he had danced, perhaps it
would have made it better.

Another contestant sang
“Silent Night.” At first it appeared not
favored by the crowd, but by then end of her
performance the crowd cheered. As she sang it
made it feel as if it should snow outside.

One of the participants,
Yvonne Hinshow said, “I love to sing. It’s not
the typical audience I sing for.” She said she
sings at her church. “When I got up there I
almost said praise the Lord!”

At the end of the
contest the judges totaled the scores. However,
the singing didn’t stop at the end of the
contest. The crowd heard an encore presentation
from some of the pervious contestants of the
night, singing a rendition of the Temptations’
“Just My Imagination.”

Along with those that
sung on stage there were also many who danced
and put lots of emotions into what they did. The event appeared to be
a success.

Winners of the night
included first place, Jennifer Cobb; second,
Yvonne Hinshaw and third place went to Myriel
Hawkins, Temara Johnson, Lakwshia Moseby and
Sharniece Calvin.